Electrophoretic method for edible eggs species identification

Abstract

The present paper describes a simple and efficient electrophoretic method to identify the species provenience of edible eggs in food products. The proteic pattern of egg yolk and egg white was described using polyacryl amide gel electrophoresis under denaturating conditions (PAGE-SDS) separately for the egg yolk and for the egg white proteins from five edible egg species, as follows: Hen, goose, duck, Turkey and quail. The molecular weight of each protein strip was calculated using a molecular weight standard curve. Separately, an electrophoretic protein pattern of all the mentioned samples was done using polyacryl amide gel electrophoresis under undenaturating conditions (native PAGE). The results show clearly distinct patterns in electrophoregrams resulted both in denaturating and undenaturating conditions for each species. These methods could be useful tools for egg species routine identification in various food industrial mixtures.